and the writing is consequently divided into seventy pages, each about five by nine inches, having been apparently executed after the paper was folded, so that the folding does not interfere with the written matter.”[36-*] It is probable that early manuscripts, as well as others of less antiquity than the above mentioned, but of great historical importance, yet remain buried among the archives of the many churches and convents of Yucatan; and it is also true that a systematic search for them has never been prosecuted. A thorough examination of ecclesiastical and antiquarian collections in that country, would be a service to the students of archæology which ought not to be longer deferred. The discovery of the continent of America was made near this Peninsula, and the accounts of early Spanish voyagers contain meagre but still valuable descriptions of the country, as it appeared at the time it was first visited by Europeans. It may be interesting to call to mind some of the circumstances connected with their voyages, and with the first settlement of Yucatan by the Spaniards, and also to notice briefly some of the difficulties met with in obtaining a foot-hold in the new world. Columbus on his fourth and last voyage, in 1502, left the Southern coast of Cuba, and sailing in a South-westerly direction reached Guanaja, an island now called Bonacca, one of a group thirty miles distant from Honduras, and the shores of the western continent. From this island he sailed southward as far as Panama, and thence returned to Cuba on his way to Spain, after passing six months on the Northern coasts of Panama. In 1506 two of Columbus’ companions, De Solis and Pinzon, were again in the Gulf of Honduras, and examined the coast westward as far as the Gulf of Dulce, still looking for a passage to the Indian Ocean. Hence they sailed northward, and discovered a great part of Yucatan, though that country was not then explored, nor was any landing made.